Hello - my DD who is 2.8 has never slept properly, even when she was a baby.
(Long history:)She wakes up 4-8 times every single night. She is frequently awake for the whole period of 1am - 5.45am (approx) when she then sleeps for 2 hours. Or she wakes every 30 mins or so from eg 11pm - 2.30pm and then never gets back to sleep. Just so you know the background. We are really worn out.
Thankfully, our Paed let us try 2mg melatonin, quick release powder (opening up a capsule) 2 weeks ago. It is magic. If we can get it into her, she gets to sleep in minutes instead of waiting for hours in the dark. It is great to know she is sleeping for 4 or even 5 hours at a time as she never has done before. But then she is awake again a few hours later, and sometimes never getting back to sleep at all.
I have read everything I can find about melatonin prescribing in the UK, and it looks as though slow-release melatonin (which I think she needs/would benefit from) isn't prescribable in a form which you can open up and disperse into water (or hidden in jelly if needed). But I have read that you can get skin patches in the US.
After long preamble (sorry), could I please ask if anyone knows about, or has used, skin patches of melatonin (or other forms of slow-release) for their DC? I realise that the 'health food shops' versions may not be pharmaceutically-reliable but has anyone tried them or got patches from the US, or anything like that?
Any help/advice much appreciated. We have seen her speech/language improve a lot over the last couple of weeks, as she's had more sleep, and so this is not just for our own sanity. Sorry for the long post.